Ah yes the lakers already concerned with trading away the 2 players they just signed without seeing the team even play

Why did they over pay for Kessler? Where are these mythical low cost players available that can help turn a team into a contender?

It is only an overpay if Kessler ends up a bust signing.

Not saying it’s right or wrong, but A LOT of centers (starters or not) got more money then I was expected this summer, which forces me to revaluate a bit, like if you told me before the summer that the Kessler trade would happen I would have been “wow it’s crazy” now like I still think the money + the draft picks is a lot because he’s unproven, but I’m not sure the Lakers really had other reliable options (not that Kessler is THAT reliable tho)

Luka. Plays. Forward. On. Defense. People keep talking about the lakers backcourt defensively as if Luka is part of it.

lol. They haven’t even played a game yet.

Is this just Lakers psychosis? I genuinely think this team looks good, better than last year for sure.

All I’m seeing is that far too many people that are paid to comment on basketball have never watched Walker Kessler play

Does Lowe have some ties to Croatia?

Lakers will be better this season.

Don’t worry about the picks Laker fans. Ask us how we feel about them picks.

This is unintelligible, anyone care to translate?

Lol huh? This was a legit upgrade for the Lakers at a much needed position.

Betting the over for the Lakers win total had been a money printer the past few years lmao

This is a center price. Lakers got Mark Williams. Lakers spent 1 first round pick + 1 swap. Because health issues, lakers gave up. PHX spent 1 first round pick to get Mark Williams.

The Lakers have a solid team. They’re not going to be favorites or anything, but they have enough top end talent to challenge for a title. Luka dragged far worse to the finals in Dallas.

Just a psychotic take from a guy who takes the over on seemingly every team and seems to see the bright side for this horse shit Memphis Grizzlies team that has been slapped together. The Lakers will have an expiring Vando contract with 6 draft assets to trade next summer, along with the full MLE and the BAE, while being $34m under the first apron. They have a decent amount to work with. “Trapped with this team” is just a complete misrepresentation. This ain’t the Westbrook situation.

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Personally I would like to see them play first before I would post videos giggling about how bad I think they will be on the internet.

But that’s just me lol

Reaves and Kessler are overpaid but at least Luka is on a discount

Shoutout Nico

The lakers options were:

1. do nothing and get rolled by the Thunder/Spurs or lose a competitive series vs the Nuggets, taking a chance pushing Luka out the door
   
2. get a center and maybe compete with those top teams while catering to Luka who is their only hope at a championship in the next decade

Can we just disregard what Goldsberry says if he thinks Luka is a POA defender on the Lakers just because he’s a 1 on offense?

Luka is not, and never has been, and never will be the Lakers POA defender.

Give Luka and Reeves little matador outfits with Kessler standing behind them.

Reaves and Doncic

Stank Bros.

They’re saying this because they can’t improve from draft, they have no picks, and only tradable piece is AR.

r/nba coming to the defense of the lakers was not on the bingo card today lol

A lot of people commenting here seem to misunderstand the criticisms against the Lakers offseason and how they relate to Walker Kessler.

Does Walker Kessler, the player, help the Lakers? Does he fit a need that they’ve had for a long time? Without a doubt yes.

Is this team now a championship contender? No.

The issue isn’t Walker Kessler. The issue is that the Lakers gave up every tradable asset they had to get him. It forces them into an uncomfortable situation where if they want to improve in the near future, they need to start think about trading Austin Reaves because they don’t have anything else of value (side note - I don’t think Austin Reaves will have good trade value either, IMO he’s overpaid now).

Slow news day huh?

Why does this Lowe guy hate the Lakers so much? He never says anything positive about them.

lol clueless. Name a better Center you can get for 2 first

My only issue with Kessler to the lakers is if they paid him even 5 million more I don’t think Utah would have matched. They aren’t ready to hand out big deals to guys who missed a whole season yet. Ainge is still on the hunt for a center piece for that roster (it could be Peterson or even Bailey). IMO they would have been way better off paying more in his contract and limiting what they can do this offseason than trading all those picks and limiting what they can do in the future.

When making rfa offers you have to be willing to let the other team match and walk away or you’re gonna get taken advantage of. Ainge simply took advantage of the lakers desperation. Kessler is going to be very good I think, but he isn’t the final piece of a title contender and at best they are the 4th best team in the west.

If Kessler stays healthy then it’s not an overpay, there aren’t any other options available out there. How many interior defensive anchors with some decent offense are there in the league? And how many teams are willing to let them go?

Now, AR is a legit overpay in my opinion. Sure, if the cap jumps his contract will look better, but for now that is an untradable contract for an one-way player who has yet to prove himself in the playoffs.

bs

Kessler contract might be high, but I think the overpay here is the draft picks sent to Utah to get him. Somehow Danny Ainge continues to fleece teams of assets.

As far as the Lakers roster goes, they are somewhat stuck at the moment. They aren’t trading Luka and Austin’s new deal will be hard to move. The only moveable asset will be Vando’s.

That Laker team cannot win as currently constructed without massive injuries to several teams and a perfect run of health. It’s just not most likely going to happen. The defense on the wings is going to be abysmal. They’re going to have to outscore everybody which sometimes will work and in the playoffs as we’ve seen usually won’t

I can’t believe they mortgaged their future for fucking Walker Kessler and unproven player on a horrible team for the last few years

What a gross metaphor.

The Lakers probably overpaid for Kessler, but I find the broader Ringer narrative that they somehow had a terrible offseason pretty ridiculous, and I’m not even a Lakers fan.

They’ve brought in players who should look better playing next to Luka and Reaves, and Kessler is a really good basketball fit with both of them. Obviously the defense, particularly at the POA, is a legitimate concern, but it’s not like Denver, Minnesota, Houston, etc. are flawless teams either.

Outside of OKC and SA, I don’t see a Western team that’s clearly better than LA. I’d probably have the Lakers in the zone for homecourt. You have one of the best playoff performers of this generation in Luka, Reaves is legitimately very good, and now they have a competent rim-protecting/rim-running center next to them.

You can criticize what they gave up for Kessler without acting like the actual team they built is bad. That’s the part of the discourse I don’t understand.

He was balling out with Lebron gone. Why does the media keep saying trade him before they even see the team play?

If Kessler was in Utah, it would be all
Sunshine and rainbows about him. The “stank” defense made round 2 without Luka last year. But somehow Grimes, Thybuille, Ziaire aren’t better than Smart and 41 year old LeBron POA lmao can’t wait until everyone can be normal for two seconds about the Lakers

These guys are miserable

Lakers will be a good team. Luka is an all time talent and can win you a lot of regular season games by himself. Where they’ll struggle is in the playoffs against the Spurs and Thunder. How do you get stops in the 4th of close games when you have to play Luka and Reaves. Good teams will pull Kessler out of the paint with shooting. If you want to hide Kessler on a non shooter then how do you hide Luka? 

if you look at the best teams (spurs, thunder and knicks) they all have „very good/special centers“. imo its the most important position in todays league aside from your superstar if you want to content

Obligatory “fuck Goldsberry” comment that guy is so insufferable.

He just gives off massive front runner energy the guy needs to stick to his flow charts

Kessler is what was needed with poor defense off the dribble by Luka and reaves. It’s not an overpay if it’s an essential cog. Loving the moves being made and how Carr looks too. Thybulle was sorely needed for d, and grimes is a good on ball defender too. Almost everyone can shoot a 3.

Lakers gonna be super mid

Aside from giannis who wasnt even a ufa.. what is overspending for a big? Hes getting that contract regardless if its the Lakers

Shaq didn’t win a championship until his 4th year with LA

It’s 2 pick swaps on top of the 2 picks they gave up. They’re still getting a 1st for those years and it’s no guarantee that the Jazz will be good enough to want to exercise those swaps as well.

For the cost of bigs now, Kessler was fine. Just not a bargain

This doesn’t take place in a vacuum though, over the course of a season and a half the Lakers traded AD, Max Christie, 3 1sts and 2 swaps for Luka and Kessler, to go all in on a shot to win. Who’s not making that trade?

How are you a basketball casual with a basketball podcast? Luka guards 3s and 4s. What sport does he watch

I thought the consensus was that the Lakers had to make a move this offseason while they have cap space and with pressure from Luka, especially if they wanted to keep Reaves. They needed a high tier starting center that fits with Luka’s timeline and it was pretty much between Duren and Kessler… Duren wanted even more money than Kessler and Kessler’s defense was a better fit than Luka.

What other real choices do the Lakers have under these circumstances?

People acting like Reaves didn’t average 30/8/5 when LeBron didn’t play 💀

Every superstar needs a defense around him to let him do what they do best, be an unstoppable scorer. This isnt rocket science.

What?

It’s weird how Luka becoming a laker makes his defense some huge fucking problem . Like he hasn’t been to the finals already and conference finals . With Kyrie and Brunson along side him at that. Not like those guys are some defensive walls. Lakers will be good probably great if healthy. Luka still the best offensive player in the nba . Dude was torching right before he got hurt to end last year . They just need to stay healthy . Their defense is going to be better than it was last year.

NOT EVEN A GAME PLAYED. Srsly!? These talking heads…really are just that. Talking heads.

So Luka and AR had elite +/- last season when paired with a good defender (Smart) without having other players that really suited Luka’s play style. This season they got better defenders and fit around Luka (and one of those players, Kessler, was the one guy Luka asked for). I think people forget how good Luka is with a team built around him

I’m not worried about Kessler’s contract as much as I am about his health. 

The amount of times I’ve heard the Lakers are “trapped” financially in the past 5 years…

Why is this controversial? It’s an overpay! You can’t even compare it to Bridges because Bridges made the playoffs/Finals with the Suns. Kessler has had good seasons but his resume has just been on a tanking team. I don’t get why fans get defensive over a fact; they overpaid

It seems the Lakers panicked and made any moves they could make. All those signings they made that day look said we have money to spend and we don’t care about the fits.

I think Grimes and Sandro are clear downgrades over Kennard and Hachimura and them losing LBJ is gonna hurt a lot more than they think.

You all are missing the point. The lakers need more talent than this. I’m sure Kessler will be good, but they need him to be great for it to make a difference in the western conference. This move makes them for from a play in team to a 4 seed at best, but more likely a 6 or worst seed

I think the NBA has lost its fucking mind dude.

First of all, Ayton was GOOD for them. And Hayes is LITERALLY the best alley-oop threat in the league.

What are they wanting out of a center at this point??? For him to shit gold??

You got Luka and Austin putting up 45 shots a game and somehow you want your fucking center to average 20+ ????

I don’t even understand at this point what Kessler is going to possibly bring that Ayton+Hayes wasn’t already doing.